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My Own 1st Quarter Citations for 2014

The Young Critics Circle used to release quarterly citations of the best in Philippine cinema. Unfortunately, that practice has ceased in the last decade or so as, I suspect, members could no longer keep up with the steady increase of movies in the age of filmfests.

Eighteen Pinoy movies were shown in cinemas from January to March and, even though I’ve seen most (excluding some skin flicks like Luhod sa Harapan, Ex-Men, and Pilyo), I’m ashamed to say I could not find enough time to sit down and write my thoughts on any of them, except for a brief note on Norte, which I count among the 18 even if it was screened in Cinemanila last year. I included Norte in my top 10 of 2013 but since it was not commercially screened last year, I think it’s fair to consider it as a 2014 film.

I hope the title of this post says it all but just to reiterate, even if I use the YCC categories, this list is my own, not YCC’s. Norte gets my vote in all the six categories, with double citations for Best Performance (Lucero and Bayani). Only one other film, Gabby Fernandez’s atmospheric Mana, gets nods in all categories.

Below is the complete list:

Film

Mana (Gabby Fernandez)

Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan (Lav Diaz)

Screenplay

Mana (Gabby Fernandez)

Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan (Rody Vera and Lav Diaz)

Performance

Kim Chiu, Bride for Rent

Carla Abellana, Third Eye

Angeli Bayani; Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan

Iza Calzado, Starting Over Again

Ensemble cast, Mana

Sid Lucero; Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan

Sandino Martin, Unfriend

Editing

Mana (Lawrence Fajardo)

Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan (Lav Diaz)

Third Eye (Jay Halili)

Cinematography and Visual Design

Mana (Lee Briones, Rodell Cruz)

Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan (Lauro Rene Manda, Perry Dizon)

Third Eye (Mo Zee, Jay Custodio)

Unfriend (Arvin Viola, Lester Jacinto)

Sound and Aural Orchestration

Mana (Lamberto Casas Jr., Wild Sound, Von de Guzman)

Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan (Corinne de San Jose, Mikko Quizon)

Third Eye (Lamberto Casas Jr., Teresa Barrozo)

Kim Chiu in Bride for Rent and Sandino Martin in Unfriend are both cited for Best Performance.